AMR Centre Secures £2.3M Seed Funding to Advance Novel Antibiotics Against Antimicrobial Resistance

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) recently learned that the UK-based biopharmaceutical company AMR Centre has completed a £2.3 million angel financing round. The round was led by LifeArc, a UK medical research charity, with participation from Bruntwood SciTech, MGL, and the GM&C Life Sciences Fund.

On May 1, 2016, to address the adverse effects of antibiotic resistance, UK government departments and private investors jointly funded the establishment of the AMR Centre. Located at Alderley Park in Cheshire, the center is dedicated to accelerating the development of new antibiotic drugs through a comprehensive suite of services, providing R&D support from preclinical trials to clinical proof of concept. This round of financing will be used to develop new drugs for treating drug-resistant infections.

In January this year, the UK government announced a new plan to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics and curb drug-resistant infections. At the Davos Forum, Matt Hancock, the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, released the UK Government’s New National Action Plan, which outlines Britain’s objectives for the next 20 years: to bring antimicrobial resistance under effective control by 2040, with measures spanning human health, animal health, the environment, and the food chain.

The AMR Centre also collaborates with international small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and pharmaceutical companies to rapidly advance promising new antibiotics into clinical trials. Currently, the organization has three ongoing projects in partnership with collaborators in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the United States.

R&D Laboratory (Source: AMR Centre Official Website)

Dr. Peter Jackson, Executive Director of the AMR Centre, said, “With this investment from LifeArc, combined with the support of our existing investors, we aim to continue advancing toward our company’s goal of delivering new therapies for serious antimicrobial-resistant infections.”

Dr. Melanie Lee, CEO of LifeArc, said, “We are delighted to support the AMR Centre. As a medical charity, we are committed to helping startups achieve commercialization. The goals of the AMR Centre align with our areas of focus, primarily combating infections, including antimicrobial resistance. This is a highly successful collaboration that will help accelerate this important research.”

GM&C Life Sciences Fund is a UK-based venture capital firm focused on investing in domestic life sciences companies. The fund is managed by Catapult Ventures and is located at Alderley Park, the largest life sciences campus of its kind in the UK, featuring over 500,000 square feet of premium laboratory space and supporting infrastructure. Since 2002, Catapult Ventures has invested in numerous life sciences companies, including Oxford BioTherapeutics, Monica Healthcare, and Probe Scientific.

LifeArc is a life sciences and medical research charity founded in 1992, headquartered in London, UK, dedicated to translating promising scientific research into clinical applications to benefit patients.

(Compiled by Yang Shaobo)